Homeowner and Ladder....

[Bucknut]

Took this as I drove to a job today. Couldn't resist.

Notice the mangled ladder and the nice peel. Looked like it just happened- everything was left laying out as if he just limped inside to call for help

I'm past the point of sympathy.

 

[JeffGu]

Sheesh... he/she is lucky they don't have a broken neck.

 

[BRT]

Question is: How many customers can describe a situation like this as the last time they tried to cut their own limb/tree? From this point forward, tree companies get all the work.

 

[monkeylove]

Unfortunately I just saw a tree service doing that exact thing yesterday. Up on a ladder, no ppe at all but zipping along with his chainsaw. Yes I did say him because the rest came back when it was time to drag and chip but for the actual tree cutting he was all alone for hours just winging it. I'm never sure which is worse, a nieve homeowner or a hack pro. Okay they both need to be slapped but the hack probably harder for giving the profession a bad public image.

 

[Stihlmadd]

You get what you pay for or in this case what you didn't want to pay for.

 

[Treezybreez]

Hope he didn't produce too much free nitrogen fertilizer for the grass, when he bled all over the place.

 

[Treezybreez]

I say he because I have never seen a woman do that. They are usually trying to stop their husbands.

 

[Bucknut]

I say he because I have never seen a woman do that. They are usually trying to stop their husbands.

Ha! I thought the same thing. Never seen a woman put herself in that position. Their judgment isn't impaired by testosterone and Schlitz

 

[Jeff]

Got hired once by a wife on the phone asking, "Can you get over here quickly before my husband kills himself?"

 

[macswan]

I dropped gear off to coworkers at a hubby project they had to go fix. Leaning out of the woods toward the house, face cut toward the woods. Most of a back cut till it leaned back. At which point he realized his error in judgment attached it with a chain to the next tree at about shoulder height. Cuz obviously that will hold it up indefinitely. Wife called, very worried.

 

[kstreehuggerco]

I have offered to help more than one bone head armed with a sawzall and ladder for free over the years only to have the bone head refuse my help on the grounds that they knew what they were doing.

 

[james mauldin]

We got the "emergency" call for an 75' oak with a 60' crown notched all around like a beaver got ahold to it by the landscaper who was packing up his "tree crew" into the minivan when we pulled up. It had a clothesline in it for the pull line. We ended up setting a line and putting a new notch in above the others in the only suitable direction, pulled it over with a truck into the road, bucked it up to get the road passable, collected our money and left the mess for the prepaid half down payment landscaper to clean up. Any other direction would have been on somebodies house. We have gotten all of the client's work since then

 

[flyingsquirrel25]

I live next door to a gentleman that likes the ladder and chain saw. I don't understand why he wont come over to ask for help. I have done plenty of neighborly arboricultural donations/improvements to his property and don't mind (as he is very understanding of my quirks). Just a couple weeks ago I stepped outside (cause I heard a chain saw running) to find him on an extension ladder cutting an oak limb. Before I could say anything (or get the camera) the limb broke tipped down and kicked back. By some stroke of luck the butt struck a limb by the last couple inches. If it didn't catch the ladder would have been wiped out. Obviously shaken, he climbed down set the saw down and walked to his house (probably to change his underwear). I thought maybe he learned.... Nope was back out there a couple times over the next few days chopping limbs off.
I always thought that this stupidity was money driven, but I think Bucknut has it right. Testosterone driven.

 

[Jeff]

When I was young, my dad (NOT a treeworker!) leaned the extension ladder against a large horizontal black cherry leader, about halfway out. He only had enough ladder to get an inch or two above the leader and when he chainsawed the outer half of the leader off, the remaining part sprung up above the top of the ladder. Surprisingly, he was fast enough to fling the Homelite and grab ahold of the remaining leader as the ladder fell away underneath him. I heard him yell and came around the house to find him hanging mid-air from the leader, like it was the world's highest chin up bar.

 

[james mauldin]

When I was young, my dad (NOT a treeworker!) leaned the extension ladder against a large horizontal black cherry leader, about halfway out. He only had enough ladder to get an inch or two above the leader and when he chainsawed the outer half of the leader off, the remaining part sprung up above the top of the ladder. Surprisingly, he was fast enough to fling the Homelite and grab ahold of the remaining leader as the ladder fell away underneath him. I heard him yell and came around the house to find him hanging mid-air from the leader, like it was the world's highest chin up bar.

Is that when you were inspired to go into tree work and save the world from dangerous honey - do list

 

[Jeff]

Is that when you were inspired to go into tree work and save the world from dangerous honey - do list

No, but he's famous for doing similarly boneheaded moves. It did inspire me to slow down and think things thru a little before rushing into them!

 

[deevo]

Here's a pic of a bunch of numpties working beside one of my crews last week! I went to finish off a few stumps heard a saw running look over and WTF! I yelled at the guy told him to ditch the ladder learn how to climb or your gonna die! So wrong! That's a fairly big ladder he was up! Can't believe idiots would hire these ding a lings ! I know I'm not cheap but we do the job right with the right equipment and skills, and have workers comp. these dead beats didn't even have liability insurance, yes I asked after I yelled at him and his side kick on the ground.

 

[Boomslang]

I'd rather have guys spur trees with just a lanyard to prune than to see them use ladders. Of course learning to climb properly would be ideal.

 

[JeffGu]

That's pretty risky, man. Trees that close together, impossible to judge what a limb will do after hanging up in the nearby limbs and bouncing around. On a slope. I'll use a ladder on rare occasions if there's a very compelling reason why it would be safer. I can only think of two occasions when that was the case. Just too damn dangerous.

 

[Carbon matrix]

First time posting. I got a call from one of my crews to come over right away. When I got there we observed a "tree service". One single guy climbing an old wooden ladder with saggy pants and no belt. He began sawing using an old hand bow saw. Apparently the task wasn't going quickly enough so he defended and grab his trusty farm boss. As he ascended the ladder cutting away at the spruce limbs his pants fell down around his ankles. There he was stuck at the top of his ladder. As he tried to come down he slipped throwing his saw to the ground and bouncing down the ladder. The next day when we came back to the same area another service was there with there bucket. The things I have seen over the time in tree work are nothing short of amazing.